In a surprise joint operation with Thai investigative authorities, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has achieved the unprecedented feat of directly striking the source of an overseas drug production base for the first time in the history of South Korean government agencies.
The NIS announced that on June 9, it raided 10 local drug raw material storage warehouses in places like Bangkok alongside the Thailand Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), seizing a total of 49.98 tons of core chemical substances used for drug manufacturing.
The seized raw materials are enough to produce 21 tons of methamphetamine or 1.1 billion tablets of yaba. Valued at approximately 8.4 trillion won—enough for about 700 million people to take simultaneously—this operation preemptively blocked the influx of massive quantities of drugs into South Korea and across Asia.
This operation was decisively triggered by the NIS's arrest and extradition of Thai drug lord 'Tapanan' back to Thailand in April. Following the extradition, the intelligence authorities maintained close cooperative investigations, ultimately succeeding in pinpointing the location of the large-scale raw material hideouts.
Around 100 personnel from five Thai agencies, including the ONCB, military, and police, along with specialized NIS counter-narcotics agents, were directly deployed for the on-site crackdown. This marks the first time that South Korean investigative and intelligence agencies have directly participated in cracking down on an overseas drug supply base.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul expressed deep gratitude for the NIS's intelligence support and cooperation during an official briefing. The NIS International Crime Intelligence Center stated that it will continue to strengthen cooperation with major production and transit countries to fundamentally cut off international drug supply chains.
